Caracterização de sementes crioulas do alto sertão sergipano

Abstract

Landrace seed is the main input of peasant production systems and has social, cultural and economic importance for traditional families and communities. In this context, the present study aimed to identify species and varieties of landrace seeds existing in the Alto Sertão region of Sergipe, Brazil, and to analyze the quality of landrace varieties of maize grown and stored by family farmers in Community Seed Banks (CSBs) and Family Seed Banks (FSBs) of the Alto Sertão region. For the characterization of landrace seeds, semi-structured questionnaires were applied to guardian farmers in four municipalities of the Alto Sertão region of Sergipe (Canindé de São Francisco, Poço Redondo, Porto da Folha and Monte Alegre de Sergipe) and seed quality was determined based on moisture content (MC), electrical conductivity (EC), germination first count (GFC), germination (GER), germination speed index (GSI), emergence speed index (ESI), root length (RL), shoot length (SL), shoot fresh mass (SFM), shoot dry mass (SDM) and field emergence (EME). The results obtained through participatory research showed that traditional communities store numerous varieties of landrace seeds, being 10 species and 67 varieties, of which the most conserved species by the guardians were maize (Zea mays L.), common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), followed by cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), faba bean (Vicia faba L.) and vegetables. In addition, it was observed that the highest percentage of seed guardian farmers were women, representing 78.6% of the total number of interviewees. In the seed quality analyses applied to landrace maize varieties, it was possible to observe through the moisture content analysis the non-interference in the physiological quality of the seeds collected in CSBs and FSBs, as their moisture content (9.37% to 11.03%) was within the safe range for storage. It was also identified that most of the varieties studied showed germination percentages ranging from 82% to 100%, except for ‘Cateto’ maize, which had low germination (55%) when compared to the others. In the emergence test, the maize variety ‘do Campo’ was superior to the others, with an average of 89%, while the ‘Cateto’ maize variety showed 11% emergence. Therefore, the maize variety ‘do Campo’ was considered the most vigorous, as it expressed high vigor in most tests conducted in laboratory and field, while the maize variety ‘Cateto’ was the least vigorous.